Unconvincing Premises, Decision

Charlotte Osei does not only hate listening to radio as she said recently she also abhors issues of integrity.

We are yet to establish though whether she reads newspapers or hates them as much as she does radio.

Her decision, ostensibly powered by the VCRAC Crabbe-led committee’s reasons for not accepting the call for a new voter register, is as unconvincing as they are tendentious.

An aspect of her correspondence to Ghanaians on her decline for the replacement states that the issues raised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and others sharing similar positions on the integrity of the voter register “were not convincing” to warrant a replacement of the roll call of voters.

We too find the premises underpinning her foul “no new register” announcement as lacking integrity and falling below international best practices. It was making good a promise to an interested party which thinks a young register is not changed; it is cleaned.

What is worrying to most Ghanaians is how such a corrupted register is going to be cleaned enough to meet the requisites of acceptableness by the aggrieved citizenry.

Although the outcome was predictable, the premises were not. In undertaking such a project of doing the bidding of a party which is what many Ghanaians think, unfortunately the need to apply some finesse cannot be overlooked.

The journey to the December-end announcement started with the convening of a sham stakeholders’ forum on the demand for a new voter register.

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The outcome of the theatricals, which were staged to ostensibly tap the positions of the various political shades in the country for an eventual decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) was envisaged long before the nonagenarian and his team submitted their so-called report.

With the Akua Donkors and comatose political parties resurrecting and assembled by those interested in the ‘no-new register’ outcome to come and perform the way they did, what else were we expecting of Sister Charlotte?

After all, Justice VCRAC Crabbe’s disdain for a new register was voiced out even before he was appointed to lead the committee.

Anything in opposition to what we were served would have been incommensurate with the premises feeding the EC decision, including the predisposition of Justice VCRAC Crabbe and the other members of the committee. That is the story.

The speed with which the political history of Ghana is being recorded is amazing and reminds us so much about newsreels of years long gone. It is interesting to note however, the changes which have occurred in our electoral chronicle originated from the same source as the demand for a new voter register. From the demand for transparent ballot box to the use of photo ID cards for polls to a request for a new voter register – the current one being contaminated with multitude of anomalies – a lot of water has passed under the bridge.

Charlotte should cease regarding opposing views with the contempt she is doing. Changes will come when they must, complex machinations unfurled notwithstanding. The Romans put it this way “tempora mutantur” times change.